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  Fantastic quotes attributed to astronauts (Page 2)

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Author Topic:   Fantastic quotes attributed to astronauts
Blackarrow
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Posts: 3551
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 07-02-2022 09:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Jonnyed:
How about Buzz's: "Will you get away from me?" (to Sibrel)
I prefer Sibrel's reply: "OUCH!!"

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 207
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 07-03-2022 01:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My favorite astronaut quote is one that I heard in person and may never have been recored or written down. I'm not sure if it resonated with anyone other than myself. It was July of 1999 and Buzz Aldrin was at a book signing at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, California. This was a Wednesday at lunch time with very little advanced notice and only fifteen or twenty people, including myself, had assembled to hear him speak. Elsewhere in the bookstore other shoppers were perusing the latest Garfield the cat and Harry Potter books. I wondered if they knew who Buzz Aldrin was and if so why they didn't stop to listen to him, one of the first men on the moon!

Buzz said how pleased he was to be speaking to us at Kepler's Books of all places because had it not been for Johannes Kepler's three laws of planetary motion we never would've reached Earth orbit let alone the moon. The bookstore had been named for its owner and not the German astronomer but on one wanted to correct Buzz. Then Buzz gave us a look to let us in on the fact that he knew that and was only playing a Gotcha! On us.

During the Q&A session someone asked Buzz if Apollo 11 was only a technical achievement or if it was a spiritual journey as well.

Answering with conviction Buzz said, "Apollo 11 was absolutely a spiritual journey." But then he grew pensive and in a much softer voice, almost as if he was speaking to himself, he added something, He mused, "However Apollo 11 was no greater a spiritual journey than growing from a 39 year old man into a 69 year old man."

No one said anything or reacted to this low key statement. But I thought it was an extremely powerful moment. I'll never forget it.

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 207
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 07-03-2022 01:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
“He’s short, dark and movie star handsome. Two out of three isn’t bad.”

Walt Cunningham’s description of Harrison Schmitt.

Headshot
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Posts: 1182
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 07-03-2022 04:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Headshot   Click Here to Email Headshot     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I had forgotten about Wally Schirra's comment while watching the video feed from Ranger 9 as it crashing into the Moon in March 1965. Just before impact he was reported to have yelled, "Bail out, you fool!" Typical Schirra.

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 207
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 07-04-2022 04:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
When asked if he thought there might be life on other worlds Pete Conrad said there probably was and followed up by saying,

"After all, there's plenty of unearthly looking things moving around in my refrigerator, so there's always a chance of life springing up almost anywhere."

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 207
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 07-04-2022 04:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Someone once said to Pete Conrad, "I'd love to do all the things you've done."

Conrad replied by asking, "Then why don't you?"

Conrad wasn't being flippant. He wasn't asking the person why he didn't fly to the moon. He was asking him why not do what you want to do.

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 207
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 07-04-2022 05:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
"Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell."

Frank Borman

Said when he was CEO of Eastern Airlines.

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 207
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 07-04-2022 05:37 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
"A good man's life is never quite ended; something of it always remains to touch and illuminate other lives."

Ed White

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 207
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 07-04-2022 10:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
"Being the first Israeli astronaut -- I feel I am representing all Jews and all Israelis."

Ilan Ramon

I don't know how I feel about this quote. If I ever make it to Mars it'd be rather presumptuous of me to claim that I was representing all the religiously unaffiliated flight instructors.

David C
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Posts: 1386
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012

posted 07-05-2022 03:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for David C     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Seeing Buzz mentioned reminded me of one occasion that I met him. He’d just signed a photo of Apollo 11 EVA training for me and he paused to consider the scene before remarking:

“We had no idea what we were doing.”

A few other folks will have heard it. That’s always stuck with me.

Gordon Eliot Reade
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Posts: 207
From: California
Registered: Jun 2015

posted 07-06-2022 08:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gordon Eliot Reade   Click Here to Email Gordon Eliot Reade     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
We must remember that William Shatner is a true astronaut. He's flown in space. Here are my top three Shatner quotes.

"We meet aliens every day who have something to give us. They come in the form of people with different opinions."
William Shatner

"My fear is dying badly, through illness or injury. But what a glorious demise it would be to burn up in space."
William Shatner

"How do I stay so healthy and boyishly handsome? It's simple. I drink the blood of young runaways."
William Shatner

brianjbradley
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Posts: 151
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2010

posted 07-06-2022 08:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for brianjbradley   Click Here to Email brianjbradley     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
"Atlantis is ready. We are ready to burn paint" - Commander Fred Gregory in moments before STS-44 launch.

MartinAir
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Posts: 269
From:
Registered: Oct 2020

posted 07-06-2022 10:06 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MartinAir   Click Here to Email MartinAir     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
"Your mind is like a parachute: if it isn't open, it doesn't work."-Buzz Aldrin.

“Congressman: Now Jim, people in my state keep asking why we're continuing to fund this program now that we've beaten the Russians to the moon.
Jim Lovell: Imagine if Christopher Columbus had come back from the New World and no one returned in his footsteps.”-'Apollo 13',1995

“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever.”
– Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

minipci
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Posts: 421
From: London, UK
Registered: Jul 2009

posted 07-07-2022 05:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for minipci     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
One I like is from the Frank Borman narration on the moon-landing flexidisk in the December 1969 issue of National Geographic magazine. I don't know whether he wrote it, or if it is from another source, but he certainly spoke the words on the disk:

"Tomorrow, together, where might we not go?"

LM-12
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Posts: 3728
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 07-07-2022 12:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
John Young, during the transearth coast press conference on Apollo 16:

"I think we've seen as much in - in 10 days as most people see in 10 lifetimes."

Headshot
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Posts: 1182
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 07-07-2022 07:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Headshot   Click Here to Email Headshot     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have never heard that quote from Borman, even though that issue of National Geographic is but three feet from me as I type this message.

I think that is an absolutely extraordinary quote, but also somewhat sad, considering what has transpired since then.

Paul78zephyr
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Posts: 790
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 02-09-2023 01:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Paul78zephyr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Headshot:
Houston, we've had a problem ...
It's amazing how many people and institutions got and still get this wrong. Look at NASA's own publication.

Paul78zephyr
Member

Posts: 790
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 02-09-2023 02:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Paul78zephyr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My favorite quote is by Buzz Aldrin after receiving word that Eagle was cleared for liftoff from the lunar surface:

"Roger. Understand. We're number 1 on the runway."

Paul78zephyr
Member

Posts: 790
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 02-10-2023 11:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Paul78zephyr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My second favorite quote is by Jim Lovell on Apollo 13 after receiving word that their S-IVB had impacted the lunar surface:

"Well, at least something worked on this flight."


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